Semiconductor device manufacturers are responsible for validating the integrated circuitry they produce before shipping products to customers. Automated test equipment (ATE) is an apparatus that can rapidly test and verify the operation of a semiconductor device using a number of automated tests and measurements. By using an ATE apparatus, vendors can administer many different test patterns to validate each transistor of a semiconductor device. Because of the substantial expense of ATE and the large number of devices that a typical vendor must verify, it is beneficial to minimize the time consumed by ATE validation for each semiconductor device.
Typical memory controller devices are semiconductor devices that include a memory array, a memory controller and a memory interface. In order to test and validate a memory interface using ATE, the memory controller device can be connected, via external pin connections, to a tester capable of emulating an external memory (or a device accessing a memory), and providing simulated responses back to the memory controller device. Under such a configuration, the ATE can operate the memory interface through simulated memory access operations, and verify that each transmit and receive path (and, by extension, the circuit components of each path) are working properly. A memory interface that fails the testing can be discarded or recalibrated and then subjected to further testing under the ATE.